


Garlic Bread as a Metaphor for Love

by irlenolacroix



Category: Smile For Me (Video Game)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Cooking, Established Relationship, Fluff, Food as a Metaphor for Love, Gay, M/M, Surprises, Workaholic Parsley
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:07:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28422942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irlenolacroix/pseuds/irlenolacroix
Summary: Parsley's a bit of a workaholic who does a little too much overtime and comes home exhausted and underfed almost every night. His boyfriend Kamal seeks to change that, especially in the week before Christmas.A gift for @seagullcharmer on Tumblr for the SFM Secret Santa 2020 gift exchange! Hope you like it, Libra! <3
Relationships: Kamal Bora/Parsley Botch
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	Garlic Bread as a Metaphor for Love

Parsley got home from work right on time, which was an hour earlier than he usually got home. He was a chronic late worker, which he’d been chided for multiple times by almost everyone around him, most often Kamal and his dad. Was it healthy to work himself down to the bone, “businessing” as his dad called it, until he could barely drive himself back to his apartment after work? Probably not. But he still did it each day. Except for today, that was. Today his boss made him go home on time, threatened to lock him inside the building unless he didn’t, and while Parsley would have been fine with that he certainly wasn’t fine with frustrating his boss. 

So he went home. There wasn’t much else to do in the week before Christmas.

Parsley parked in his usual spot and started up the stairs toward his apartment. He nearly tripped on the first step and almost tripped again upon spotting a particularly large moth hanging out on the banister.  _ Bet he’s chilly, _ he thought to himself, but he was chilly too, and that spurred him on up the stairs until he reached the third floor. 

He pulled out his keys and approached his door. There were some scuff marks on the door, he’d have to clean those. As he put the key in the door, though, he didn’t have time to turn the knob before a loud noise from inside his apartment made him jump back.

_ “Shit!” _

The shout startled Parsley’s eyes wide open and he scrambled to remain on his feet. “Uh--” He staggered back toward his door and leaned on it, getting up on his tiptoes in a futile attempt to see through the peephole. “Who’s there? Who--”

“It’s me, it’s me,” the voice said, sounding just as startled as Parsley was. “Don’t come in yet. Stay out there.”

Parsley’s work-addled brain took a moment to process the voice, but in a moment it clicked and he recognized the telltale accent and intonation. “...Kamal, what are you doing in my apartment?”

“You gave me a key, remember, honey?” Kamal’s voice was slightly muffled by the sound of dishes clattering against each other. “Stay out there for five minutes. I wasn’t expecting you-- _ huff _ \--to be home so quick!” He was panting between words. “You’re usually late.”

“I… Yeah, but that doesn’t answer my question!” Parsley said. “Why did you break into my apartment?”

“I didn’t break in, you gave me a key.”

“That isn’t the point!”

“Look, Parse, you’ll see the-- _ huff _ \--you’ll see the point soon, okay?” Kamal paused to take a deep breath. “Just… Stay outside for a minute. It isn’t ready yet.”

Parsley opened his mouth to protest further, but gave up halfway through his breath and elected to sigh dramatically instead. “C’mon, babe, it’s cold out here. Can you not just let me in? I’m gonna freeze to death.”

The clattering and thumping from inside the apartment halted for a long moment. “... _ Fine _ ,” Kamal finally said. “You’ve got to promise you’ll keep your eyes closed, though.”

“I promise.”

“Pinky promise?”

Parsley raised his eyebrows. “How can I pinky promise if we aren’t holding pinkies? Also, what are we, five?”

Kamal didn’t answer, just cracked the door open a tiny bit and peeked one eye out at Parsley. “Not opening the door until you close those eyes.”

Parsley sighed through his nose, but he relented and closed his eyes. Immediately he heard the door creak open, which was followed almost immediately by the feeling of Kamal’s hands on his shoulders. Kamal guided Parsley inside, shut the door, then immediately grabbed Parsley’s shoulders again to continue to guide him through the apartment.

“Can you manage on your own in your room for a bit?” Kamal asked.

“I… Sure,” Parsley said. He wasn’t going to ask any more questions.

“Swell.” Kamal stopped and took his hands off Parsley’s shoulders. “You can open your eyes now. Just… Stay in here for five minutes, all right? Warm yourself up. And no peeking until I tell you to come out!”

“All right,” Parsley said. He opened his eyes to see Kamal leaving his room, and before Kamal could leave he grabbed his wrist. “Hey, can I at least have a kiss for my trouble?”

Kamal chuckled quietly and turned to face Parsley. “You can,” he said. He gave Parsley a soft peck on the lips before shaking the hand off his wrist. “Now warm yourself up and relax! I need to finish up!”

“Be quick,” Parsley said, and Kamal was gone in an instant.

There were a few more noises from the kitchen, a little louder now that Parsley was inside, and he closed his eyes and flopped back on his bed to listen and try to decipher what the hell Kamal was doing. He’d already had a long week, his brain was totally fried, and as much as he loved having his boyfriend over he was never really one for surprises. Kamal knew that, though, so he wouldn’t be doing anything he knew Parsley would dislike... 

The more Parsley ran his head over it the more confused he got, so he decided to stop thinking about it and just let Kamal finish up whatever he was doing in the kitchen. He sat up to shrug off his coat, then his blazer, which he lay neatly on his bed in preparation for hanging up in his closet. His tie came next, which he placed right next to the blazer and coat, and he was debating asking Kamal if he had time to take a quick shower when the door suddenly swung open.

“Okay!” Kamal was beaming. Parsley hadn’t seen a smile like that from him in a while. “You can come on out!”

Parsley combed a hand through his hair, mostly to get it out of his face, but also hoping Kamal would think it was alluring. “Do I need to close my eyes again?”

“Nope!” Kamal reached for Parsley’s hand and pulled gently. “Just come on out, I’m excited to show you what I fixed up.”

Parsley wasn’t about to protest. He squeezed Kamal’s hand and followed him through the narrow hall and out toward the kitchen and dining room. He was going to comment on how nice it smelled as he came in, but he got caught up in trying to figure out exactly what it was that he was smelling, which was revealed to him as soon as he came into the dining room.

“Surprise!” Kamal said softly. “Merry Christmas. Well, merry early Christmas. It’s only the nineteenth, but I think that’s close enough.”

Parsley was awestruck. There was an entire meal on the table, a  _ real _ one, and as much as Parsley loved his father, it looked far more appealing than any of Jimothan’s usual confections. There was a large plate of spaghetti, enough to share between both Parsley and Kamal, as well as a pair of salad bowls and a plate of garlic bread. Kamal had put out what appeared at first to be a bottle of wine, but upon closer inspection was actually a bottle of sparkling grape juice, which was much to Parsley’s relief seeing as he’d been trying to cut his alcohol intake. The smell he’d detected was definitely the garlic bread. He was almost weak in the knees. He suddenly realized he hadn’t eaten since breakfast.

“Oh my god, Mal,” Parsley said, “you made all this?”

“Yeah!” said Kamal. “I’m not too much of a cook, but I know you never have time to cook when you come home from work and I’m tired of seeing you live off microwave meals and those sheets of paper you like to chew on. Plus it’s Christmas next week and I know we’re probably both going to be kind of busy and you’re going to be spending most of the day with your dad, so…” He shrugged and looked at the floor, his gaze bashful. “I dunno. Wanted to do something special, I guess. I’m sorry, I really shoulda asked first, but--”

Kamal was cut off when Parsley lay his hand on his chin and tilted Kamal’s face up. He went in for a kiss then, long and sweet, and Kamal quickly reciprocated. When Parsley pulled back he was smiling brightly, and he wrapped his arms around Kamal in a tight hug.

“I love it,” he murmured. “Thank you, hon. I really needed something like this today.”

Kamal melted into Parsley’s touch, and he hugged back just as tight. “I’m so glad,” he said. He kissed Parsley’s shoulder, then leaned back and looked up at Parsley’s face. “So… You hungry, Cilantro?”

Parsley snorted a laugh at the nickname. “Jeez, you sound like my dad,” he said, and it was followed by a giggle. “Yeah, I’m hungry. I haven’t had a real dinner since… Well, since the last time I visited my dad and Trencil.”  _ And I’m not sure if that counted as a real dinner… _

Kamal grinned and headed over to the food. He pulled Parsley’s chair out for him, then went to sit in his own chair across the small wooden table. “Well, then let’s eat! Just… Promise you won’t have the fork for dessert.”

Parsley winked. “No promises.”

“I’m not driving you to the hospital if you eat the fork.”

“You won’t need to.”

The food was delicious, even if Kamal insisted on deflecting any praise Parsley gave him for it. But even more than the food, Kamal’s presence made Parsley feel warm, satiated, and safe. Snow was beginning to come down outside the window, but Parsley couldn’t imagine feeling cold with Kamal by his side.

**Author's Note:**

> hey y'all! i hope you like this cute little christmas fic, haha. it's a bit late, but i worked really hard on it because i wanted to make it as good as possible!
> 
> this fic is for the sfm secret santa 2020 gift exchange on tumblr, it's my gift to libra aka seagullcharmer! libra's been one of my closest friends since i was a little kiddo, so i really hope this is up to par. love you so much, libra, i hope you enjoy this!
> 
> if anyone wants to get in touch with me on tumblr, you can find me at @winemomparker! comments and kudos are much appreciated, thank you guys so much for reading! mwah! <3


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